John Rutledge

Of all cars I know of on the road, the New Beetle is the car that looks most like the TT.<br>Certain "family resemblances" cannot be denied. If you wanted to describe a TT to a non-car person, you could tell them "It looks like a sleeker and more muscular New Beetle," and that would give them a sense of it. This is a helpful and not an invidious comparison. <br> TT New Beetle<p>wheelbase 95.4 98.6 inches<br>overall length 159.1 161.1 <br>height 53.0 59.5 inches<p>These figures show that the two cars ARE fairly similar in size. I’ll leave it to others to<br>decide whether a 6.5 inch difference in height justifies the term "squashed."<br>Certain design features link the cars as well, particularly the articulated, rounded wheel<br>wells.<p>But when you see them on the road, they are very different cars. You don’t have to<br>look twice to distinguish between them. The TT seems much more organically sculpted. It is <br>not a car artificially forced into a geometric shape. The TT looks like the New Beetle in the same way that the BMW M coupe looks like an older Honda Civic, maybe less so.<p>I looked at pictures of the Porsche 356. Spiritual grandfather? Well, maybe. I think it<br>would depend on driving feel, not external looks.<br>